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Import/Shayne Herrera
Shayne Herrera is the Art Development Director for Cryptic Studios. About Shayne Herrera A 10-year veteran of the video game industry, Shayne started his career as a production artist at Sierra Online in Eugene, Ore. During his time at Sierra, Shayne shipped the ground breaking hit Starsiege Tribes. It wasn't long until the booming San Francisco game development market lured Shayne south, where he found a home at LucasArts. Over the next two years he worked on titles such as Star Wars: Force Commander, Escape from Monkey Island, and Star Wars: Starfighter. After his time with LucasArts, Shayne found himself in a five year commitment with EA, allowing him to add numerous titles to his resume including 007: Everything or Nothing and The Godfather. Over the years, Shayne has gained extensive experience in the industry, evolving from a production artist at Sierra Online to his current position as art development director for Cryptic Studios. Shayne's current focus is guiding Cryptic Studios into the next generation of video game visuals. "Meet the Team" Interview Q: What do you do as art development director? A: '''As the art development director I oversee all of the art that is created at Cryptic Studios, whether it is for our web sites or the entire Champions Online universe. I am lucky enough to work with the most talented art team in the business. And with their skill and talent, we are creating amazing new worlds with interesting characters. '''Q: How long have you been working in the gaming industry, and what did you do before working on Champions Online? A: I have been in the industry of videogame development for approximately 400 years. It is amazing to look back to when this all started, and say that I went to high school with Yoda. Wait … that's not me, that's Bruce Rogers (Cryptic Studios' chief technical officer). I have been in the industry for 13 years and counting. During that time I have been lucky enough to work on some awesome games including Tribes, Escape from Monkey Island, The Godfather, and of course the hit game Ski Racing 1998 (featuring Picabo Street). Q: How did you set the art style for Champions Online? A: '''I was watching an episode of Dastardly and Muttley and thought to myself, "Why are you drinking Pine-Sol and watching cartoons at 1 p.m.? Isn't Michael going to be mad that you aren't at work?" And that was it! I had the idea for the art style. Wait, that isn't what happened. We spent a lot of time thinking about what jumped out at us when we look at comic books and superheroes. This game had to feel like it jumped out of the panels of a comic. To get there, we needed to have a certain style of shading, so we developed what we are calling "comic shading." By combining comic shading and some interesting post-processing tricks, we are able to achieve Champions Online's vivid color range. When it comes to creating the Champions Online universe, we decided to marry two very different art concepts. The first is based on basic art and design ideas, including asymmetry, strong silhouettes, smart usage of color theory, etc. The second concept is to take what we think looks realistic, whether it is an animation pose or a character's costume, and then push it to extremes by exaggerating it. Everyone knows what a punch should look like in real life, and everyone knows what an exaggerated punch in a comic book looks like. It is my goal to make that comic punch feel as natural as the real-life punch. '''Q: Can you explain how comic shading is different from cel shading? A: '''Comic shading is somewhere in the center of cel shading and more realistic shading. We place all of the art details into the geometric mesh instead of using the traditional method of applying details in the 2D normal or diffuse maps. Our rendering engine uses the edges of polygons to render the awesome black outline found in comic books. The more geometric detail, the better the outlines look. '''Q: Who are your favorite artists? A: '''Wow, tough question. I am a photographer at heart, so I have to split this between painting/drawing and photography. As far as painting/drawing goes, my favorites are probably Zdzislaw Beksinski, Phil Hale, Raymond Pettibon and Degas. As far as the photographers go, I would have to say Andre Kertesz, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Lee Friedlander, and I love all the work from Hamburger Eyes. '''Q: Who is your favorite Champions character? A: Well, there is a new character that we just created and I just about married one of the animators for doing such a good job bringing him to life. (Don't worry Danny Southard, you will be mine!) But if I have to pick an old Champions character I would pick Grond … four arms, baby! Q: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why? A: '''Mind control, so I can avoid speeding tickets. My wife wishes I could avoid these. '''Q: What kind of games do you like to play? A: '''Connect Four, Boggle, Mousetrap, er, wait … Lately I have been playing Bioshock, Assassin's Creed and Skate. Skate has been my focus for the last week or so. '''Q: What do you like to do outside of work? A: I have two sons who keep me busy as heck. I travel a lot and I shoot about 10,000 pictures a year. I love museums and art. I also enjoy break dancing and eating cheese. Q: What is an interesting fact about you that players would be surprised to know? A: I cut my finger off like 12 years ago in a car accident. Dr. Macha, I still owe you for doing a bad @$$ job reattaching it. Q: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to become a professional artist? A: Please learn everything you can about the foundations of art. Learn traditional ideas and mediums. Drawing is pretty much free, now go do it! Q: Do you have anything else to add? '''A: '''Look up the word "man" in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Johnny Cash. Oh yeah, if I ever get a dog I want his name to be Clint Eastwood. Sources Cryptic Studios Official Site Champions Online Official Site Category:Developers